Table of contents for Themes of Eternity
The clerk hastily got out of the way as Stephanie Gower stormed into my office. I sighed inwardly. Not her again. She had been coming every week, running roughshod over my employees and playing havoc with my appointments. I was starting to hate the sight of the woman.
“What do you mean, I can’t take control of the money?” she screeched into my face, waving the letter I had sent her just a few days ago. That was Stephanie for you. No subtlety whatsoever. For the hundredth time, I wondered how on earth she had ever managed to deceive Peter Gower into marrying her.
“My dear Stephanie,” I said placatingly, rising and gesturing for her to sit down in front of me. She ignored my actions and remained standing. “As you know, although Peter did appoint you as regent over his fortune until Stephen comes of age, his will specifies that it would only occur after his death.”
“He’s already dead!” she shouted. “I sent him to Tarsengaard already! The doctors all said that he no longer could be conscious of his surroundings. His mind is already gone! I’m his widow, for Elandria’s sake!”
“Unfortunately, the law does not recognise mental death,” I said coldly, not bothering to hide my dislike of the cold-hearted witch who had married my best friend anymore. “Peter’s will can only come into effect if he has physically died and not resurrected.”
“And, as you are well aware,” I quickly continued, seeing that she was about to screech again. “The curse has now made it impossible to physically permanently die. Therefore, the law holds that you will never be able to be appointed regent over his funds.”
“The law can go to the Underworld!”
I drew myself up. “Thankfully, your opinions are not that of the majority, Mrs. Gower. And until and unless the government and citizens of White Stone pass an amendment to change the laws of inheritance, all of Peter’s fortune will stay safe and sound in the hands of Lawson, Lawson and Co.”
I had warned Peter, of course, when the curse’s effects had first become known. But the old fool was idealistic enough to believe that it would be just a short-term thing and didn’t bother to change any of his legal affairs. But now I praised Aluwen for Peter’s foolishness. It was the only thing that allowed me to still preserve his fortune for his rightful heir’s usage. Stephen was only six years old. It would be a decade and a half before he reached his age of majority. Unolas only knew what that woman could do in that time, with the money that Peter had saved.
“You’re just conspiring to keep it for your family, aren’t you?” she screamed, pointing a finger accusingly at me. “Yes, you and your precious sister. It’s all a big plot to throw me out into the gutter, penniless! I, who slaved over that man for four years, washing him and taking care of him and even sleeping with him! You want that money for yourselves!”
My cold dislike hardened into bald-faced hatred. Bad enough that this, this floozy had deceived my best friend and brother-in-law into taking her in after my sister had passed away. Worse still that she treated Stephen, my nephew, as barely more than a servant. But to hear her disparage the memory of my sister and the man she had loved in my very presence was too much.
“Leave now, immediately,” I cut her ranting off, barely able to control myself from hitting her. “I will not stand for your insults anymore, Stephanie Gower. You will either leave now of your own accord, or I will have you forcibly removed from the premises.” I pointed at the door, my face set in granite.
She stared at me in shock for a moment, then twisted her face into a grimace of hatred. “Don’t think you’ve won, Lawson. I’ll be back again, and this time with my own lawyers. We’ll change your damned inheritance laws, even if I have to batter on Lord Luxin’s castle door myself!”
With that, she flounced out of the room in a huff. Suddenly feeling drained of all energy, I slumped back into my chair. Why did I let her get to me so much? That woman always rubbed me the wrong way. I looked at the miniature portrait on my desk. Peter and Juliette were smiling happily, with the newborn Stephen in their arms. If only the curse had arrived two years earlier, none of this would have happened. Juliette would still have been alive, and Peter would not have had his nerves completely shot to pieces having to live with that vicious, money-grubbing harpy.
“Rest well, you old coot,” I told his smiling face. “You couldn’t stand up to her, but I can. I’ll protect your fortune as long as it takes for your son and heir to grow up. I won’t let that woman get her hands on it, no matter what.”
Sighing, I turned away from the portrait and started looking over my legal notes. She would be back, no doubt. I had best be prepared for the battle when she came again.
